Usability.gov

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) has created a web site that "is designed to provide current and accurate information on how to make health-related information Web sites and other user interfaces more usable, accessible, and useful. The site also links to a variety of quality Web sites and resources on usability, accessibility, and related topics that exist in the field." Although the Department's concern is with health-related web sites, this information is useful to any organization that is creating a web site for any purpose. The sections on the site include:

• Usability Basics
• Methods for Designing Usable Web Sites
• Guidelines and Checklist
• Accessibility Resources
• Server Log Analysis
• Statistics and Market Research
• Events and Meetings
• Newsletters and Current Publications

There is a lot here and there are extensive resource lists.

If you are building a new web site, revising an old one or just in the planning stages, you should check out this web site and see what you should be thinking about in regards to usability. Thinking of testing your site with users? There are resources here to help with that too.

BTW one flaw in the site is that I see no revision dates posted. The documentation says that new information is added monthly, but without revision dates (or update dates), it is impossible to tell when a page has been changed.

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Technorati tags: usability, web site